gadude,
No offence was intended, my post was more directed at those who think that they know better, and knowingly ignore the rule.
Apologies if it came across the wrong way towards you.
Normally, for conversion to Oz you have to pass an Air Law exam, but not if you come via the TTMRA. I believe our VMC rules are different to NZ as well.
avi8ar - I'm pretty sure there's a rule along the lines of "an aircraft must fly at least 3 legs of the circuit" then a separate rule later on saying "an exception is if ... (rules RE straight in)" You are right in that the AIP (for the record I use Jepps, so there may some difference in the wording) does not specifically say base joins are illegal. It does say you must fly 3 legs of the circuit, except when following the straight in procedure. 3 legs = downwind, base and final. I haven't looked the rule up too recently though, so I could be wrong, but Wally seems to have the same idea as me.